Some moments deserve a monument. Some do not. This point is apparently lost on the owners of a Hyde Park shopping mall, which just installed a ton-and-a-half stone marker to commemorate the spot where Barack Obama first kissed his future wife, Michelle. The plaque, which features a picture of the couple dancing – Obama looks like he’s grimacing, and Michelle looks strangely pleased – states:
“On our first date, I treated her to the finest ice cream Baskin-Robbins had to offer, our dinner table doubling as the curb. I kissed her, and it tasted like chocolate.”
— President Barack Obama from an interview in O, The Oprah Magazine, Feb. 2007; Image Courtesy of BlackPast.org
On this site, President Barack Obama first kissed Michelle Obama.
It is a good thing that admirers of Bill Clinton did not attempt the same publicity stunt. We might have a three thousand pound boulder in the middle of the Oval Office to cover the rug stains.
This, of course, begs the question as to where sycophants of Obama will next erect monuments. They could place a monument at the high school where he first joined the Choom Gang. They could put down a marker to show where he first decided to shake his capitalist Wall Street impulses in New York. Or perhaps they could drop a stone to show where Obama didn’t sit in Jeremiah Wright’s church. Or maybe even a plaque to show where Obama didn’t break up with his composite white girlfriend from Dreams from my Father.
Unfortunately, it will be tough to place a marker on the spot where Barack first won an argument with Michelle. That event has yet to occur.